


Urban Legends

by ShoshannaRose



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Apocalypse, Every Season, F/M, Hell, Horror, Hunter Gossip, Legends, Leviathans, M/M, Monsters, Multiple Point of Views, POV Outsider, Purgatory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2013-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-07 10:25:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/747443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShoshannaRose/pseuds/ShoshannaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even before the Apocalypse began, there were whispers about John Winchester's boys. By the time the Gates of Hell are closed, the Winchester brothers become every hunter's living legend and every monster's horror story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Urban Legends

**Author's Note:**

> I know this has been done before, but I wanted to try it. 
> 
> Also, this isn't directly tied into any of my other stories, but I'm keeping that Sam searched for Dean while he was in Purgatory because fuck the show for doing that to his character. 
> 
> And especially after this episode. There's no fucking way it should've been that easy.

"People say that boy can see the future."

"Oh, yeah? Which one?"

"The youngest."

The first time Gordon hears mention of the Winchester brothers in any light other than cheerful guesswork about how good they'll be, he's still nursing his bruised ego at getting knocked out and tied up by a kid half his age. The three men are in the corner, drinking Mrs. Harvelle's best whiskey and three quarters drunk. The owner isn't paying attention, lecturing her daughter, a slip of a thing who thinks she'll be a hunter one day.  _The boy can see the future._  Perhaps against his better judgment, he stands and joins the other men. They all know him and greet him with open smiles and introductions. 

He asks, "So what's this about the kid seeing the future?"

"You ever heard of Reggie and Steve?" Roy says, lighting a cigarette and opening the window so Mrs. Harvelle doesn't kill him. As an owner of an establishment and a mother, she's damn scarier than her husband ever was. Gordon nods. "Well, they went to investigate a series of suicides all committed after the victim talked to someone on the phone. Couldn't have been more than a day since they got wind of it and by the time they got there, case was wrapped up."

Walt takes a cigarette from his cousin's pack. "Supposedly," he says, "the kid doing the murdering was a psychic. Kid was dead, Winchesters gone. Reggie says it's 'cause Sam saw the psychic's face in a vision."

Gordon thinks of that floppy haired kid who let the vampires go. If he could see the future, then he was a freak too. That explains why he decided not to kill those fangs. "Bullshit," he says just to hear them talk some more. "John's boy? I know 'im and his brother. Good team."

A different Steve than the one spreading the talk snickers. "I heard they got you good, Walker," he says. "Dean'd knocked you out, right?"

Roy looks almost sympathetic. "S'not his fault," he tells his friend. "People didn't know it yet."

"Know what?"

Throwing him a glance from the corner of his eye, Walt says, "You don't hurt the younger one. Sam gets so much as a scratch and you're dead. Dean’s about as overprotective as it gets."

"The kid's barely off of training wheels."

"Doesn't matter. Their daddy taught them everything he knows."

"I heard Dean's better than -"

Suddenly Mrs. Harvelle's there, hands on her hips. "What're you saying about those boys, now?" she asks, eyes narrowed and Gordon wonders how a freak and his brother managed to worm their way into her affection. That's a damn hard thing to do. 

"Nothing," Roy answers, unconvincingly. "Just sayin' how good they are."

Without asking if they're done, she starts clearing up the table, indicating it's time for a bill. No one argues as they all pull out their money. "I don't want to hear that talk again," she says, looking each of them in the eye. "They're just kids - they don't need some bullshit gossip getting hunters on their asses."

"Yes, ma'am," say the other three at once. Her mouth sets in a hard line and she walks off, money in her hand, letting them know it's time to go.

As he leaves, Gordon thinks of Dean's cold eyes and Sam's visions. They're just kids, not dangerous yet, but if that freak figures out what he's doing, shit can get real. 

Well, he'll just have to find him first. 

.

Nicole is thirty-three and even though she's been hunting for two years, people still treat her like a rookie. So, really, it shouldn't be much of a surprise when some of the older contacts she's made call her up to meet. We have something big, Martin says. Something really big. 

She gets there at two in the afternoon, right on time. 

After their exchanges of hello, she asks, "What's going on?"

Richie seems simultaneously pissed and scared. "Ever heard of a Hell's Gate, Frederickson?" 

When she says no, they explain and she understands even though not much is said. Somehow, someone opened a door way to Hell and she, a rookie, just stepped into a war she didn't know existed. "Do you know who did it?" she says, crossing her arms and leaning against the beat up Mitsubishi she's owned for the past fifteen odd years. 

"Sam and Dean Winchester," Martin answers, "Bobby Singer, and Ellen Harvelle. Scariest mothers 'round, I tell'ya." 

"They say Sam came back from the dead," Richie adds, dead serious.

She smiles, thinking it's some sort of joke. " _They?_ " she repeats. "Now who's  _they?_ "

The older man suddenly fidgets, uncomfortable. "You know," he says, "just other hunters. I heard it from Ross, but I don't know where he got it from."

"People don't just come back from the dead," she says, not sure if she actually doesn't believe it or if she just doesn't want to. "That's got to be -"

Then, dead serious too, Martin tells her, "They can with crossroads deals."

Again, she doesn't know much about deals, but she knows enough. "Who'd be stupid enough to make a crossroads deal to bring someone back to life?" she asks. "What's dead is supposed to stay dead, everyone knows that."

Still, her friends aren't laughing. "Listen, Nick," he says, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I like the Winchester brothers, I really do. Great kids. But Sam and Dean are the  _last_ people you want to fuck with. You understand?"

A chill goes down her spine. Winchester, like the rifle. Kids, he said. God, her question wasn't answered but she's not sure if she wants to know. "Yeah," she answers, swallowing thickly. "I get it. Won't fuck with them."

After that, the conversation inches away from the brothers, back to explaining demons and Hell's Gates to her because that's what she needs to know. At four she needs to split and they say to call her if anything comes up. She agrees and slips back into her car, pulling out of the empty Walmart parking lot. They hadn't mentioned Sam and Dean again. 

Later, though, as she tries to fall asleep, she tries to think of what type of person would special enough to sell away your soul for. 

.

Even after the rocky end to their friendship and the fact that Sam almost killed her when he was possessed, Jo finds out that she's still stupidly protective over the two boys. 

Mark Adler, a guy she recognizes from the Roadhouse, comes into the bar she works at with a couple of friends. It isn't a hot spot for hunters but they still stroll on by every once in a while. She asks her boss if she can take her break a few minutes early when Mark offers to let her join and when Abby says yes, she sits with the small group of three. 

Before she can even get out a simple greeting, Mark says, "You know the Winchesters, right, Jo?"

She blinks. "Yeah," she answers. "Who doesn't?"

"You heard about Dean yet?"

Just the sound of his name is enough to twist something inside of her. "Yeah," she says again, looking down at the table. "The hellhounds. That was -"

"That's not what he's talking about, sweetheart," the guy wearing the green shirt tells her and she feels the burning desire to hit him just for the nickname. "A few days ago we got the news: Dean Winchester's back from the dead."

If it was about anyone else, she'd think it was some sort of joke. Instead she thinks of Sam and the knife wound Mom said was in his spine. How Dean died because he bargained away his soul to get his brother back. If anyone was could come back from the dead, it would be him. 

Before she can ask how, the one in red says, "And then there's Sam. Darling little Sammy."

"What about him?"

"Last I heard, he's screwing a demon," Mark says, calling for another glass of whiskey. "Bet big brother won't be too happy about that."

She doesn't even need to think about it when she tells him, "You shut up about Sam." All three turn to her, staring to shock. "Yeah, you heard me. He's a good guy. So shut your mouth. There's nothing to talk about."

"The kid's screwing a  _demon_ and you're telling me there's 'nothing to talk about,' Jo? They say he can exorcise demons with his mind, too."

She stands, ready to go back to her shift early, glaring. They don't understand. First time she saw Sam Winchester, he was covered in cuts and took a case even though his dad had been dead for less than a week. The boys have always had talk floating around them and just because the younger one has that whole psychic thing going on doesn't mean he's a bad person. "That's exactly what I'm saying," she says. "And trust me, I'm not the only one who likes them. So, really, I suggest that you shut up before someone protective enough to hurt you for it catches wind of what you're saying because they're out there."

Not waiting for them to say anything, she turns and walks away, seething because  _they're not their father_. 

.

After that disaster in Oklahoma, Steve and Alan end up in Rotary, the new hunter meet up. The owner is a guy named Bill who had to retire after shattering all the bones in his right leg and arm. Everyone's muttering about the Apocalypse, no one closed off into groups but all talking together. Fifteen guys in total. All Steve wants is a damn glass of scotch so he can get drunk and forget about getting fucking demon blood spit in his face. 

Everyone's so loud that no one sees them come in. It's Roy who notices them first, sitting next to his cousin and waves them over. "You hear about the Apocalypse yet?" he asks, scratching at his beard in a way that makes an irritated sound. 

"You hear about who started it?" Alan answers loud enough for about half the bar to hear. Most go silent from his words and the others just because they don't know what happened. "Who popped the Devil from Hell?"

Walt's eyes narrow. "What're you going on about?" he says, twisting around so he can see them. 

Steve turns around, figuring that there's no point in keeping this a secret, facing the whole bar. "Who here doesn't know who Sam Winchester is?" he says, making sure everyone can hear him. Bill stops cleaning the glass in his hand. No hand goes up. Of course - four years of hunting together without their old man, both coming back from the dead and they're already the most talked about men around. Normally that sort of reputation takes at least decade to build up. 

"Sam Winchester," Roy repeats, sounding amazed. "You serious?"

No Jo. No Ellen. No Bobby. Not a single person ready to jump to the kid's defense. "Got all hopped up on demon blood apparently," Alan says, leaning back against the bar. Neither man mentions how he spit it right back out when they tried to force feed him. Addicts normally can't do that. "Went to kill some big demon and broke open Hell."

"What about Dean?" someone calls from the other side of the bar, but his voice gets overlapped by Kevin half-yelling, "I was right!"

"About what?" another voice asks.

"The kid fucked a demon," he answers and suddenly they're all talking at once about psychics and possibly incestuous brothers and something called codependency that Steve doesn't know the meaning of. 

From behind him, Walt says, "Is the kid even human now?" Both Steve and Alan shrug. "The fuck?"

Finally Bill puts down that glass. "So what're you saying we do about it?" he asks, eyeing the two of them critically. Steve feels exposed and angry for Reggie dying and getting beaten up by a single man. Though, if he's not human, it would make sense how he was able to do that, right? Demons always were scary strong sons of bitches. 

"Hunt 'em down?" a young guy says, can't be much older than thirty-two. 

Damn right, that's what he deserves. "Them?" someone else says. "Sounds like Dean didn't do anything."

Some girl hunter he vaguely recognizes as Nicole or Nicky or something laughs. "You hurt either Winchester and the other one'll kill'ya," she says. "First thing I was ever told about them. You want to shoot Sam, either make sure Dean doesn't find out who you are or you're dead within a week."

Then everyone talking once again, the voices climbing in volume about hunting down Sam Winchester the same way you do with a demon. The thought of Dean dying too unsettles Steve a little because he knows the older brother is a damn good hunter and losing him would be a shame, but it's the lesser of two evils. He'll kill them both, make sure they're dead and that they'll  _stay_ dead. It's no less than the younger one deserves. 

Two days later, though, he finds himself staring down the barrel of a custom made gun, cold green eyes looking him full in the face and he realizes that maybe listening to that Nicole chick was a good idea.

.

"You're kidding."

Walt smirks, crossing his arms. A whole three days have passed and he and his cousin are still hopped up on the adrenaline rush of finally putting those Winchesters down. "We're not," he says, confused by the lack of admiration from the man on his right when the others look on in awe. "Got them outside of Cartridge in this little dive hotel."

Instead of getting the reaction he expected, Adrianna just dissolves into laughter. The four hunters sitting around him looking on in shock. "Think something's funny?" John says, quirking a brow. "Thought we agreed on killing the Winchesters months ago."

"Oh, they aren't dead, darling," she says, still smiling. "Took out seven demons yesterday with that nifty little knife of theirs."

_When I come back, I'm gunna be pissed._

Roy looks at him, face drained of color and Walt tries to convince himself that this is nothing. "They had no pulse, weren't breathing," his cousin says. "We both checked them."

That smile hasn't left Adrianna's face. "You boys haven't heard?" she says and isn't that the most common question regarding the brothers. "Don't know about the older one, but Sam's Satan's baby. Won't let the kid die. Until this Apocalypse is finished, he isn't dying."

"You're kidding," Noah says for the second time. "I mean, coming back to life once is weird enough but -"

"Dean told us," Roy blurts out because the kid never could keep his mouth shut. "He said he was going to come back."

"What the fuck  _are_ they?" John asks. 

With a sigh, Walt picks up his beer, looking down the neck and wondering if that's what the gun in his face will look like. "Human," Rodrigo says, taking a swig of vodka. "Humans with angels on their shoulders. Dean's got that weird one - Cas something - and Sam's got the Devil. Didn't know they could set up a revolving door policy, but apparently they can't."

Adrianna looks him straight in the eye, making sure to get the point across as she tells he and Roy, "Run, boys. Keep running until you get somewhere you don't know the language. I'll pick up the bill."

The other hunters look on in sympathy as his cousin stands, shaking. Walt follows, trying to not look as terrified as he feels. He's always considered himself a pretty fearless guy, but finding out the two guys half the hunter community's been jonesing to kill can't die has to count as an exception. As they leave, he can't get out of his head the image of Dean's cold, cold green eyes and the first time he met Sam a year earlier, twitchy like an addict that was later explained. Adrianna's advice seems like a pretty good plan. 

A week later Noah gets a call that Walt and Roy were found dead, given a hunter's funeral. 

No one goes searching for the Winchesters after that. 

.

It takes less than a month for the boys' bad reputation to turn into a glowing one. A group of thirty sit around in the Rotary, lamenting their deaths. Carl is new to this, took up hunting in the middle of Apocalypse after a demon massacred his family. He heard about the Winchesters, the men who couldn't die and started the whole damn thing to begin with. Now he's just wondering where everyone got it wrong.

Bill holds up a glass. "To Sam Winchester," he says and everyone else follows the toast, "the boy who saved the world."

"Amen!" most of the bar calls and drinks. 

"I told you," Martin says, looking around at all of them. "I fucking told all of you."

No one has an answer to that. Carl wonders what Martin told them that makes not a single person able to meet his eye. 

.

After Sam splits with Dean and becomes all cute and cuddles again, Samuel finds himself in a bar with Gwen, surrounded by other hunters. He doesn't pay attention much because he knows more than these men and women can even begin to comprehend, so instead he sits quietly, sipping his beer. 

Then, suddenly, "Did you just say the Winchesters?"

He looks up, finds Gwen facing two men he's never seen before. "Yeah," the one on the right says. "Why?"

Before she can answer, Samuel says, "We've just heard of them, is all."

The one of the left's mouth twitches into a smile as he answers, "So's everyone else 'round here," and the other openly laughs. "You new, girl?"

When Gwen nods, the man says, "I'm Jack, this is Dmitri. If you're serious about being a hunter, you better get used to hearing about them."

"Why?" Samuel asks. After spending so long with Sam when the kid was nothing but cold logic and action, he knows there's not much to hear. The boy's good but so are other hunters. 

Dmitri looks at him warily. "They're the best damn hunters out there," he says and Samuel is officially exasperated. Gwen sends him a disapproving frown. "Hey, I'm being serious. They've stopped the Apocalypse, going after that Eve chick now I hear. Don't think it's a good idea getting tangled with them either."

Jack adds, "The Winchesters are fucking lethal.  _Monsters_ are afraid to get near 'em. I've known demons to leave town if they hear Sam and Dean are hunting in the area."

"That doesn't answer why we shouldn't get 'tangled with them,'" Gwen points out, small frown still in place. 

The two men exchange a look. "They aren't just hunters anymore," Jack explains. "Even before the damn Apocalypse, they got themselves involved in the politics - angels, demons, now Eve. They're magnets for that stuff. And they've been to Hell and back. Trust me, you don't want to go anywhere near those boys. It's practically suicide."

They've got some drinks in them now and keep talking. Even though they spent a year together, Sam didn't talk much about himself since he didn't see the point of it and he's sure these people are exaggerating. A lot of the discussion is focused on the Apocalypse, how everyone thought Sam was such a bad guy but he threw himself into Hell and Dean sold his soul for him about three years earlier and was brought by to life by an angel. How you can't hurt one without finding the other's knife to your throat and they've saved towns just from whatever supernatural creepy crawly is there hearing their names. That it’s not  _Sam_ and  _Dean_ but  _Sam and Dean_ \- together, always. They're batshit insane and the scariest fuckers around. 

Really, there's no way these men have ever met his grandsons. "I heard they died," he says casually because there's no way Dean made it past those ghouls without a weapon, "searching for demon named Crowley."

"Died?" Jack says, but there's no look of confusion that Samuel expected. "First rule about the Winchester brothers, old man: they don't die. Every time they do, some angel or demon comes and brings them right back to life. And Crowley? King of Hell? If he's still around and nothing worse shows up, he'll end up the next target after Eve."

Like Steve, like Alan, like Walt and Roy, Samuel should have learned to believe what he hears.

.

When Alexa Moore hears, "Yeah, Winchester's head finally broke," she freezes.

It's been years since she's thought of Sam Winchester, she reminds herself and goes back to wiping down the table next to the man and woman talking, and that's not too uncommon of a last name. Even so, she doesn't believe herself. Whoever these guys are, they're talking about Jess' old boyfriend, the one she met once at funeral standing awkwardly near the back the service and trying not to cry. He'd been gone the next day.

"Well, what else do you expect?" the woman says. "After what he's been through? I'm surprised his brother’s hasn't yet."

Alexa knows she's lingering too long at this table, but it's two in the morning and there's no one around. "He might've," the man answers. "I mean, if you think about it. There's no way you can get that good without having a few screws loose. Sam's still fighting anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter."

"And he's got Dean and Bobby looking out for him. I think they'll be fine." Suddenly her heart's beating way too hard against her rib cage because Sam's brother's name was Dean. It's taking way too much willpower not to turn around and ask what they're talking about. She'd always liked Sam from the way Jess had described him and after the death of her sister, she hates to think about anything else happening to him. Possibly anything worse.

The man says, "Bobby? You mean that barely functioning alcoholic -"

"Watch your mouth about Bobby, Vic," the woman cuts in, voice sharp. "He's damn good."

"Oh, excuse me. I forgot you'd slept with him. I'm  _so_ sorry, Annie."

This is it. She's heard enough. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Alexa backs away from the table and heads out the back, catching one final, "What can I say? I have an attraction to great hunters," before she's out the back door. 

"Please tell me you have another cigarette," she tells Marie, the other graveyard shift waitress.

As she hands it over, her friend asks, "What's wrong, hun?"

"Just been a long day," she lies. 

How else is she supposed to explain what just happened?

.

Those that hunters have labeled "monsters" always have had their fair share Winchester stories, first mocking then grudging fear that turned into a series of real warnings after Mother died. By the time the Leviathans are gone, most use the stories of Sam and Dean as legends to keep the children or freshly turned from getting too reckless.

"If you hear their names, I want you to get of the town," the older one will say. "It isn't worth the risk."

Others will say, "Always clean up your messes extra careful. Be very thorough. If anything hits the papers, the Winchesters will find you."

And if a young one would ask, "And what makes  _them_ so special?" the older one will answer, "Because they've got bigger fish to fry and you don't mean a thing."

The Winchesters are ruthless and effective and only hunt monsters when frustrated with whatever is the bigger deal. Nothing is more dangerous than being hunted by men who don't care.

These legends follows the monsters after death and straight into Purgatory. 

.

_Dean Winchester is in Purgatory_. 

The whispers spread through the large expanse of the other worldly plain faster than anyone could have expected. During the initial surge of monsters that attack him and the angel vanishes, only one survives. And that's all it takes to turn into a suicidal game some are dumb enough to play. Those who faced either of the Winchester boys or that friend of theirs Bobby Singer avoid him at all costs, willing to damn their pride if it means never having to see those eyes again. 

Those who don't personally know of the Winchesters take this as some sort of challenge, coming after him just to see how long it takes him to fall. This is how Benny hears of him, this great hunter everyone from these past seven years fear even in Purgatory and he takes a gander. "You shouldn't do that," his friend tells him. "He'll kill you before you even know what's happening. That's what happened to me."

"Then I'll just have to talk to him," he says with a shrug but if anything she looks more worried. "I don't want to  _kill_ him, Ronnie. I want him to get me out of Purgatory."

"You get yourself out Purgatory with Dean and you'll have to deal with Sam and Bobby Singer."

This is what intrigues him about the Winchesters: the monsters they've killed all know their names. Most, including him, go down knowing just a face and what type of weapon they used. But these boys he's been hearing about for years back before anyone even knew a human could get in here. "I'm willing to take the risk," he tells her. "From the sound if it, if any kid can get me back, it's this one."

Ronnie grabs him by the shoulders. "Benny," she says, "you don't understand. His  _brother_ is back there. I saw him exorcise three demons just by thinking about it. We've got one golden rule up on Earth and that's  _don't fuck with the Winchesters_." 

"Fine, fine," he says, throwing up his hands in defeat. "I won't go looking for Dean."

But he doesn't promise and finds him anyway. 

.

Sam and Dean are scary enough together. 

One alone is about as scary as it gets. The surviving Winchester could be saving the goddamn world and the rest of the hunter community would steer clear. Especially if it's the younger one. 

"Because what you have to understand," Adrianna tells Victor even though she's never met them and he said a grand total of one sentence to each six years earlier, "is that Dean's obsessive, but Sam is actually off the rails crazy."

Victor sips his coffee because he's off the drink now even though he was never seriously on it in the first place. "Our generation of hunters is messed up in general," he says. "Who cares is one of them is nuts? I hope the next generation is better - it has to be, if we're going to win this war." 

With a literal scoff, his friend says, "Better? Don't really think that's possible, sugar."

"People said that about their father too," he points out, "and he's been gone for a long while."

"Well, they aren't their father," she answers. "John was just a hunter; his sons are weapons of their own. And what war?"

 He narrows his eyes, wondering how she could be so blind. There's always room for improvement and you shouldn't always believe what you hear. Personally he doesn't because half of what's been said shouldn't be possible. The boys are just overblown legends. "Us, them," he says. "The incident with the Leviathans should have opened your eyes. This is on a much bigger scale than any of us imagined."

"Last I heard, Sam's cleaned out most of what's left of them after Dean died," she says though no one really knows why a simple beheading is suddenly enough to kill one. Everyone assumes it's the Winchesters but they said the same thing about Eve and the Apocalypse. No two people can consistently be the center of everything. "And you can always tell where he is because monster activity in the area goes kind of quiet."

This is why he doesn't believe rumors; monsters simply aren't smart enough to be afraid of a couple of hunters, no matter how overblown they are. "I think you're giving them more credit than they deserve," he says, thinking of their old companions. "Just because Sam's in an area doesn't mean I won't go near it."

Adrianna crosses her arms, the woman version of both defensiveness and irritation. "If you even accidently hurt that boy and his brother comes back to life because those two can't fucking die, you're dead, Victor," she says, insistent now. "You heard about Al and Steve? Those Montgomery cousins?  _Gordon Walker?_   God, I shouldn't have continued this conversation."

"I'm not a rookie, Addie," he says and calls for the check, this whole talk leaving a bad taste in his mouth. These rumors about the Winchesters have gotten out of control. At times it's helpful, like when the boys told one hunter about the Borax and beheading and it spread throughout most of the community within two days, but for the most part it's damaging. Having role models is one thing; making two hunters not even out of their thirties into living legends is another thing altogether. "I won't go looking, but if I come across him, I'm not running."

"Your funeral." She says it with hard eyes and thin lips. 

He pretends that he doesn't feel a pinprick of fear.

.

_Sam Winchester is in Purgatory_. 

He isn't there very long and those who saw him split immediately. It takes almost a year before anyone realizes he's gone. 

.

On a Tuesday in March, an aging hunter by the name of David Flux comes across the Roadhouse. 

It's not a road people travel often, so it's no surprise he's the first to find it. Half expecting it to be a dream, he parks in the old lot and exits his car, wondering if buildings can have ghosts. It's brand new looking, the paint not much more than three weeks old and runny like whoever did it didn't really know what he was doing. There's no screen door like there used to be, just a plywood one that opens after applying only slight pressure. Inside is bare with no pool table or stools or booths or lights. There's a bar, though, and empty shelves with another door that leads to a kitchen without appliances and a back door equally flimsy as the front. 

Lying on the bar top is the deed, five hundred in cash, and a note. 

_Whoever finds this gets the place owns it unless you don't want it_ , it reads _, in which case you better damn hand it off to someone who does._

_Don't complain about the paint job, we know it's shit. Here's five hundred dollars to start off. You'll have to get the liquor and furniture and stuff yourselves. Same with the kitchen if you haven't figured that out yet. If there's anything to fix that's up to you guys too. Consider it a celebratory Gates of Hell are Closed present to the rest of you. Make it awesome. We're counting on you. Ellen and Jo probably are too, but it's not like we can ask them or anything._

_2/26/13. You bitches better find this place soon._

It's not signed, but it doesn't need to be. He scrambles to get his phone out his pocket and calls up Garth who'll be able to spread the news way faster than he can. When the guy picks up, he says, "Tell everyone the Roadhouse is back up and to get their asses over here."

" _The Roadhouse?_ "

"Meet up point before the Rotary. Hey, is Hell really closed off? 'Cause you should probably say that too."

They talk some more and hang up, both filing through the contacts and sending text messages and making calls. Everyone knows it's the Winchesters who rebuilt the place and shut out all those demons now, too. Within three days, the place is packed again, everyone making repairs or bringing in furniture and liquor. Most of the stuff is cheap, bought at IKEA or stolen from motel rooms. Some are even homemade. It doesn't take long before it replaces the Rotary, feeling strange without the Harvelles but familiar at the same time. 

No one knows that Sam Winchester is lying in a hospital in Kansas, making slow progress towards breathing on his own again. 

.

When the Winchesters die two years later, gone down bloody with guns in their hands after saving the world for the fifth fucking time, the stories don't fade. If anything, they get worse. 

No one really knows what's fiction or reality anymore. Most of the old generation still say they're coming back one day, but then they die too. They become legends of the New World, the men like tragic Greek heroes who went from Heaven to Hell to Purgatory and back. New hunters try to both be like them and avoid it all at the same time. Kids aren't as common now because the stories of exactly how fucked up they were is enough to scare off even the most revenge driven parents. 

And somewhere along the way, on May 2 every year, the anniversary of the Apocalypse's final day, people have a toast to Sam and Dean, the brothers who saved the world.


End file.
